1998 W202 C200 autobox quirk

[Tetleysmooth]

It's been a long while since I've had a Merc, but I bought one yesterday. It's as the title says, a 1998 W202 C200.
I'll do my best to describe the problem, but bear with me please.
When the car is cold, it has a problem selecting the normal drive mode on the selector. The 'D' doesn't illuminate. When the car has warmed up, the 'D' lights up and all is well. I had this problem this morning, so I put the selector in position '4' and drove it like that until warm. I was only driving around locally, so it was no big issue. When the car had warmed up, I put it in 'D' and it was fine.
What I'd like to know is are there contacts in the gear selector box? Could they be dirty or worn, or could this be a more sinister problem? I'm rather hoping it's the selector box, as that looks like it could be quite a simple job to replace.
I hope I've made this understandable.
Thanks in advance.

 

[amazighman]

Selector modules do fail... Simple job to change though.

 

[Tetleysmooth]

Thanks for the reply.
A chap on another forum I'm on had exactly the same problem, he fitted another selector mech, and it cured it.
I'm fitting one on this car tomorrow. Fingers crossed.

 

[Tetleysmooth]

Well, I fitted the replacement selector mech yesterday, and it seems to have cured the gearbox woes.
So I suppose the moral of the story is don't condemn the gearbox straight away when you start to get shenanigans. It seems like dodgy gear selector mechanisms are quite common.

 

[amazighman]

Job well done

 

[Tetleysmooth]